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About this book

Exodus

About this book

The Ten Commandments and the Covenant

Chapter 20

1 God spoke all these words: 2 “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt,⁠ from the house of slavery.⁠ 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.⁠ 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,⁠ 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.⁠ 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. 9 For six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.⁠ 12 “Honor your father and your mother,⁠ that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you.⁠ 13 “You shall not murder.⁠ 14 “You shall not commit adultery.⁠ 15 “You shall not steal.⁠ 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.⁠ 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,⁠ nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”⁠ 18 All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and⁠ when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance.⁠ 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.” 21 The people kept their distance, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. 22 The Lord said to Moses, “Thus you will tell the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.⁠ 23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me,⁠ nor make gods of gold for yourselves. 24 “‘You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you.⁠ 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of stones shaped with tools, for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it.⁠ 26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 20:16 and Psalm 27:12

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Exodus forbids giving false testimony, a common ancient Near Eastern requirement to preserve legal integrity. This language is echoed in Psalm 27, when the psalmist describes the threat of being accused by false witnesses.

Passages

Exodus 20:16

Hebrew Bible
14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 18 All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Psalm 27:12

Hebrew Bible
10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me, the Lord would take me in. 11 Teach me how you want me to live, Lord; lead me along a level path because of those who wait to ambush me. 12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. 13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? 14 Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord!
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... The story of Naboth’s vineyard is the only narrative where the nature of their sin is not primarily cultic but rather moral and economic. The story hints that these dimensions are connected. Sinning against God and sinning against humans come together. Idolatry brings forward other sins. The story is an example of the abuse of royal power. This is not unique in the Deuteronomic History. Samuel’s speech in 1 Samuel 8 warns the people of Israel about the rights of the future kings. One of the particular warnings is that the king will take the fields, vineyards and olive groves of the people (1 Samuel 8:14). King David also abuses his power when he commits adultery with Bathsheba and kills Uriah in 2 Samuel 11. In the present passage, false witness causes the death of Naboth. The prohibition of bearing false witness is a recurring theme in the Scriptures. It is forbidden according to the Decalogue (Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20). The accusation of Naboth is the only particular case in the Old Testament accounted in a judicial situation, but the wisdom literature (Proverbs 12:27; 14:5) and Psalm 27:12 prove that it was an existing practice ..."
András Paczári, "He Looked for Justice, but Behold, Oppression": Socio-Economic and Political Aspects of Viticulture and Viniculture in the Judean and Israelite Kingdoms (Western Theological Seminary, 2017), 23–24.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 20:16 and Psalm 27:12

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